S01E18: Gloom and Boom

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

A stranger with a bomb appears at the law firm demanding Margaret reverse her efforts to free her client on death row.

 

[shapeshifter]

So many laughs + So much suspense = Emmy

Right?

 

And those Die Hard references were probably written as a tribute when Bruce Willis' medical condition was announced?

Edited April 28, 2023 by shapeshifter

[AnimeMania]

Tonja Kahlens as Tanya
Arianna Bent as Tiffany 

That was a silly, illogical mess, so I thought I had figured it out, Margret sleep deprived, was dreaming this entire situation. With that premise in mind, I completely turned my brain off and waited for Margret to jump up from her bed saying she had a horrible night's sleep.

Who would think that their boss was using a device to spy on them, then turn that device on, and say something rude about your boss.

[twoods]

This episode was good, but made me very nervous and anxious as my happy and fluff show. Don’t do that again, writers!

Edited April 28, 2023 by twoods

[The Crazed Spruce]

You know those times when you follow a show that's basically light fluff, the kind of show you can throw on in the background and not give it your full attention, that you find mildly entertaining but in the end can really take it or leave it, but then suddenly, out of nowhere, they go and put out a REALLY good episode?

This is one of those moments.

[Daff]

The best part of it was in spite of the tension, time element, and plot twists, they still managed a fair amount of comedy.

[Gregg247]

The bad guy's plan made no sense.  He got away with murder 5 years ago, and now he's willing to put himself at risk (and maybe kill lots of other people) just so the convicted murderer gets the death penalty right away?  Whether he gets put to death or "just" life in prison, the bad guy's still safe.  Todd supposedly found a witness that may make the conviction look a little wobbly, but the bad guy is STILL safe.  There's no reason for any of this to have happened!

The Portland SWAT team wasn't very impressive.  They silently move in on a guy with the trigger for a human bomb and then rely on one of the hostages to wrestle the trigger out of his hand!

[shapeshifter]

30 minutes ago, Gregg247 said:

Todd supposedly found a witness that may make the conviction look a little wobbly, but the bad guy is STILL safe. 

The witness Todd found described the person leaving the scene of the murder as having a scar on his forehead exactly like the bad guy's, which was new evidence, and could reverse the death row guy's conviction.

But if the guy on death row was executed, the case could not be reopened. 
I don't think that's true, but that was an added urgency to the 6pm deadline.

[iMonrey]

Pretty good episode but a couple of logical lapses. First, when Todd, Lyle and Francey were in the IT closet on the phone with Susan, they could have told Susan to re-file the appeal and not tell anyone. Once Susan knew why Margaret told her to pull the appeal that should have solved the problem with Jesse, if not the bomb problem.

Then there's the fact that Bowen (?) came up to the conference room himself, which sort of defeats the whole point of him controlling Tanya by remote. Unless he himself is willing to die, once he's in the room with the bomb he's no longer a threat. And if he's willing to blow himself up with the rest of them it wouldn't matter if Jesse is executed or not.

Quote

The best part of it was in spite of the tension, time element, and plot twists, they still managed a fair amount of comedy.

Yeah, you have to do some hand-waving on this show, but it does manage to be funny and entertaining enough to forgive that. I really like it.

[AnimeMania]

Does anybody know the relationship between the bomber and the bomb.

[HurricaneVal]

Oh man, that was a fantastic episode! 

The secret passage to the long cabinet in the conference room was fantastic.  Makes me wonder what else Francey knows, she must know where the skeletons are hidden, what with being unafraid to mock the big boss on camera....  I loved the collaboration between Todd, Francey, and Lyle, and the whole scene with the "screensaver" cue card communication in the conference room.

The only thing that didn't ring true was that there is no way a giant cupboard in the conference room like that is totally empty.  No matter how meticulous a company is, empty spaces like that tend to accumulate......stuff.  A handy place to stash bulky office supplies like paper towels and Clorox wipes for the breakroom, or stacks of empty file folders.  Maybe Francey keeps it well policed so it can be kept empty for whatever purpose she has for it. 

Todd did find that lighter there, and I expected that to come up later in the plot, and be instrumental in some way for the takedown of the bad guy.  But nope.  A red herring.

Once again, Marcia Gay Harden is 'da bomb.  She just owns every scene.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

Todd did find that lighter there, and I expected that to come up later in the plot, and be instrumental in some way for the takedown of the bad guy.  But nope.  A red herring.

Now that you reminded us—   
I’m guessing the lighter in the secret passageway could be from any combination of:

• Smoking cigarettes 
• Smoking pot
• Using the passageway after hours, in the dark
• It fell out of a pocket during a Secret Passageway tryst 
• When Skylar Astin found the lighter during the passageway scene shoot, he stayed in character, so they decided to leave it in

This little lighter red herring makes me love this episode even more.

Edited April 28, 2023 by shapeshifter

[iMonrey]

There was a ping pong ball in there too!

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

There was a ping pong ball in there too!

Hopefully nobody's still looking for it. 😁

I assume there would not be any used condoms, but I can imagine one or more still in a wrapper being in there.

Edited April 29, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Silver-hyren]

22 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Does anybody know the relationship between the bomber and the bomb.

Brother maybe? He was in the family photo they were looking at.  Someone (can’t remember if Lyle or Todd) commented on how he was holding Tanya’s arm in the photo.

[shapeshifter]

On 4/28/2023 at 12:58 PM, AnimeMania said:

Does anybody know the relationship between the bomber and the bomb.

1 hour ago, Silver-hyren said:

Brother maybe? He was in the family photo they were looking at.  Someone (can’t remember if Lyle or Todd) commented on how he was holding Tanya’s arm in the photo.

IIRC, he was a brother, because they were supposed to get equal shares of inheritance from the murder victim.